Tony Buffa writes:
>I
>believe Puppa left after the championship, so at most he could have won 30
>in a row, or 33 unbeaten in a row.
 
I mentioned to Greg that Puppa's record that season was 30-1-1 and
backup Brian Jopling was 5-1-0.  I am 99% certain that Puppa did not
play all of the games during the 30-game win streak and that Jopling
did get a start here and there.  The 85-86 media guide will show that.
 
I also told Greg that I know of no record kept anywhere for longest
winning streak by a goaltender.  The Cornell goalie (forget whether
the contest has been won yet, so I won't mention his name :-)) may
hold the record, but it would be next to impossible to know for certain.
 
>BTW, the season previous to the championship (when I think most people
>expected them to win and they didn't) they still finished 32-6!  In my
>mind, the two best consecutive years in all of college hockey???  And,
>arguably, perhaps the best collection of talent (ever?) in college hockey,
>with the likes of Adam Oates, Darren Puppa, Ken Hammond, etc.
 
I think you'll get a few arguments there...most notably from Maine,
31-4-2 in 1991-92 and 42-1-2 in 1992-93, totals 73-5-4 (.915) in two
years.  RPI went 67-8-1 (.888) from 1983-85.  Talentwise, it is hard
to argue that one was better than the other.  In playing the devil's
advocate, I have taken the RPI side when Maine fans have claimed that
93 Maine was the best ever, and I am confident I could do the same for
the Maine side vs 85 RPI.  Two equally outstanding teams.  I saw
several of RPI's games and many of Maine's, and I find it difficult to
choose between the two.
 
Of course, Cornell was 100-5-1 (.948) during the four years from
1966-70, according to the College Hockey Record Manual*, but I would
not argue that the play back then was as good as it would become in
the 1980s (and 1990s, to some extent) - and that is not belittling the
accomplishment, just putting it in proper perspective.
 
(*-whenever I mention this, several people write to ask where they can
get a copy of this.  So, I will save you time by explaining now that
the first and thus far last edition came out in 1989-90, it has not
been updated since, and I know of no way to get even an old copy.  Sorry.)
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93